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Is Stealing From Corporations Morally Correct? (Yes. Just don't get caught.) | Beneath the Pavement
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this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2023
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Shoplifting
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I feel like I dont really see the big difference between those? (Like maybe Starbucks is just a really unlucky example, but I dont really have a great image of Starbucks with their union busting practices.)
Atleast for me, a grocery store being organic or unionized or donating 1% of earning does not stop me from like stealing what I need or want.
Are you aware that Bayer sold poisonous gas to the nazis during ww2 and when Holocaust victims needed medicine Bayer would not sell it to them? What about Nestlé using child slaves in the Ivory Coast? Starbucks was not even an ALEC member. HP & Amazon were previously ALEC members, and the other corps I listed still are. Do you seriously think these companies are ethically comparable? Amazon workers are peeing in jars because they’re not given enough time for bathroom breaks. Consider this list of dirt on Amazon. Does Starbucks have anything on that level of detriment?
If you’re going to steal, why is it immaterial to you which company you steal from? Why wouldn’t you favor stealing from a boycott-worthy company?
Thanks for the information, some things I did not know. It still feels to me like ranking corps by their shittyness is really unnecessary. Like I can clearly see the differences, but I dont see the point to focus on those differences as much because all corps are shitty me.
Those are some loaded questions do not really engage with my point. I clearly said that it does not stop me not that is has no effect on my preferences.
For just about every transaction, I decide who wins my business not based on price but on ethics. If I need a printer & have a choice between an HP printer and a Brother or Oki printer, HP does not make it to the shortlist. Corporations are never equal in their social impact, but to know that requires doing a bit of homework. I keep track of wrong doing by corps so I have a fairly good idea of who to patronize. If I need mobile phone service in the US, AT&T is by far the most evil and VZ is still far worse than T-Mobile. So T-mobile is the lesser of evils and they would win my business even if their plan is less fitting to my needs.
Some people have done a lot of this work for us. There an app called “Buycott” where you subscribe to ethical campaigns that are aligned to your values. So e.g. if you subscribe to the anti-child labor campaign then scan a chocolate bar from Nestlé or Hershey, the app will likely red-flag it. You could very well use the same app to decide what to steal (that is, steal something that you wouldn’t buy).
Shopping for insurance is extremely difficult for me because most insurance companies (or parents thereof) are ALEC members. There are a few exceptions and I end up paying double the lowest bid on premium because of it. In principle I should steal something from on the ALEC insurance companies to compensate the difference.